Giants

"They're not meant ter live together, giants....
They can't help themselves, they half kill each other every few weeks."
-- Rubeus Hagrid
(OP20)

Full-blooded giants are about twenty feet tall
(GF24).
They are not as intelligent as wizards but are capable of
communication, both in their native language and, at times, in English
(OP20).
They now live mostly in remote mountain areas in tribes, with a leader
called a Gurg.
They are violent by nature: fights between giants are common, and when
a Muggle unsuspectingly wanders into their midst it means certain
death. They are also very mistrusting of wizards and magic
(OP20).

There was a time when giants were a force to be reckoned with in the
wizarding world - there were once
at least a hundred different tribes spread out around the globe.
Then, in the 1970s,
the giants allied themselves with
Voldemort and were responsible
for many of the war's worst incidents of killing and torture,
especially of Muggles. Many giants were killed by
Aurors and the rest fled
into hiding for the next fifteen years.

There is one full-blooded giant, however, on the side of the good. While in
the mountains, Hagrid discovered he had
a half brother living there, and decided to bring him home to
Hogwarts. He named him
'Grawp' because "tha's
what it sounds like when he says his name"
(OP30).
Grawp lived in the
Forbidden Forest at first and
then, after the centaurs got upset,
Hagrid moved him to a
cave near Hogsmeade.
However, Hagrid has been successful in
domesticating him somewhat and in teaching him some English - so much so
that Grawp was actually able
to attend Dumbledore's funeral
in spring 1997
[Y17]
( HBP30).

"Extend them the hand of friendship, now, before it is too late,"
said Dumbledore, "or
Voldemort will persuade them, as he
did before, that he alone among wizards will give them their rights and
their freedom!"

"You - you cannot be serious!"
Fudge gasped, shaking his head and
retreating further from Dumbledore.
"If the magical community got wind that I had approached the giants -
people hate them, Dumbledore -
end of my career -" (GF36)

Half-giants are looked upon as outcasts by wizards and giants alike;
Madame Maxime still refuses
to publicly admit her ancestry, and for good reason - when
Hagrid's half-giant status leaked out
in winter 1994
[Y14],
Rita Skeeter published an article in
the Daily Prophet calling
for him to be sacked and for
Dumbledore's resignation, and
Hagrid went into
hiding in a feeble attempt to escape the backlash
(GF24).

The future of the giants is a bleak one - with only eighty or so left
in the world, most remaining giants allied with
Voldemort, and
fights regularly breaking out that severely injure or kill some of
those giants that are still around, it is unlikely the race will
survive for many more years.